Gabriel Roth (born August 17, 1974), also known as Bosco Mann among other aliases, is an American
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
,
musician, and co-founder of
Daptone Records. He is best known as the
bandleader,
bass player
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...
, primary
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...
, and
producer of
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album ''Dap Dippin in 2002, the fir ...
. A prolific recording engineer, he runs
Daptone Studios in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and Penrose Studios in
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
.
Biography
Roth was born on August 17, 1974 in
San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. Gabe and his older sister, Samra, born in 1972, were raised in Riverside by their parents, Andrew and Diane Roth, both of whom practiced law in the community and worked on civil rights and discrimination cases.
[Saki Knafo]
"Soul Reviver"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', December 5, 2008. Roth said his early aspirations were to be a math teacher and that he did not consider a career in the music industry an option.
After moving to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to attend
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
in the 1990s, he met record collector and former label owner
Phillipe Lehman. After producing funk tracks together, the two launched the
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
Desco Records in 1997. Located in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, Desco produced limited pressings of
Lee Fields
Elmer Lee Fields (born April 26, 1950 in Wilson, North Carolina) is an American soul singer, sometimes nicknamed "Little JB" for his physical and vocal resemblance with James Brown. He has worked with Kool and the Gang, Hip Huggers, O.V. Wright, ...
,
The Sugarman 3
The Sugarman 3, sometimes titled The Sugarman Three, is a retro-funk band from New York City formed in 1996 by saxophone, saxophonist Neal Sugarman, Hammond organ player Adam Scone, and drums, drummer Rudy Albin. The band has released four studio ...
, and the earliest
Sharon Jones
Sharon Lafaye Jones (May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough succe ...
recordings, among other funk and
afrobeat
Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles (such as traditional Yoruba music and highlife) and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersectin ...
records. Roth also played with the label's
house band, the Soul Providers, and recorded and wrote material for
Antibalas
Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architectu ...
and other bands on the Desco label, often under a pseudonym.
In 1999–2000, Lehman and Roth decided to part ways, with Lehman going to found
Soul Fire Records
Truth & Soul was a record label and production team based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was formed in 2004 by Leon Michels and Jeff Silverman with Philippe Lehman. The label was best known for their releases with Lee Fields & The Expressions a ...
and Roth partnering with
The Sugarman 3
The Sugarman 3, sometimes titled The Sugarman Three, is a retro-funk band from New York City formed in 1996 by saxophone, saxophonist Neal Sugarman, Hammond organ player Adam Scone, and drums, drummer Rudy Albin. The band has released four studio ...
saxophonist Neal Sugarman to found
Daptone Records. Daptone was home for the new
Sharon Jones
Sharon Lafaye Jones (May 4, 1956 – November 18, 2016) was an American soul and funk singer. She was the lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough succe ...
project,
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album ''Dap Dippin in 2002, the fir ...
, of which Roth was producer, primary songwriter, and bassist for the band's nearly twenty year history.
Roth is an outspoken proponent for
analog recording
Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which, among many possibilities, allows analog audio for later playback.
Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. L ...
, having once said, "Show me a computer that sounds as good as a tape machine and I'll use it." The distinctive, tinted glasses Roth wears on stage and in interviews are the result of eye injuries he sustained in a 2002 car accident which put him in the hospital for ten days and left him temporarily blind.
[
As a recording engineer and producer, Roth has won two ]Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s:
Amy Winehouse's acclaimed ''Back to Black
''Back to Black'' is the second and final studio album by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with then-ex-boyfrien ...
'' album was recorded with the Dap-Kings at Daptone's House of Soul Studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 2006, and in 2012 Booker T. Jones
Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...
' ''The Road From Memphis'' was also recorded there. As a member of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, he was nominated for the 2014 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...
for '' Give the People What They Want''.
Discography
''Note, as co-label owner of Daptone Records, Roth executive produce
every record released
on the label with Neil Sugarman.''
With Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album ''Dap Dippin in 2002, the fir ...
* ''Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
''Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings'' is the debut album by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, released in 2002. It is also the first full-length release from Daptone Records.
Track listing
Personnel
* Sharon Jones – Vocals
* Bos ...
'' (2002)
* '' Naturally'' (2005)
* '' 100 Days, 100 Nights'' (2007)
* ''I Learned the Hard Way
''I Learned the Hard Way'' is the fourth studio album by American soul and funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, released April 6, 2010 on Daptone Records. Production for the album took place at the label's House of Soul Studios during 2009 t ...
'' (2010)
* '' Give the People What They Want'' (2014)
* ''It's a Holiday Soul Party'' (2015)
* '' Soul of a Woman'' (2017)
References
External links
Gabriel Roth
interviewed at the Red Bull Music Academy, London, February 2010.
*Sarah Moore
"Gold Mining with Daptone: Interview with Gabriel Roth"
''PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'', January 17, 2010.
*Brad Farberman
"Behind the 'scene' with Daptone Records founder Gabe Roth"
, ''Wax Poetics
''Wax Poetics'' is a quarterly American music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip-hop, reggae, blues, and R&B in the crate-digger tradition; the name of the magazine is itself an allusion to vinyl rec ...
'', April 6, 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Bosco
Living people
American funk bass guitarists
American male bass guitarists
American bandleaders
Songwriters from California
Record producers from California
1974 births
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from California
21st-century American bass guitarists
21st-century American male musicians
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings members
Antibalas members
American male songwriters